Rey Fenix opens up.
There are a plethora of luchadores in the world of professional wrestling who have established themselves as some of the best and highly demanded in-ring performers in the sport. The tandem of Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix who are known as 'The Lucha Brothers' are examples of that as they are prominently featured in Lucha Underground, IMPACT Wrestling, they're the current MLW World Tag Team Champions and they also work for both CMLL and AAA. The two former Lucha Underground Champions are making strides and are only looking to go up from where they are now.
VICE recently released a mini docu-series that was put together to give viewers insight on what it means to be a luchadore from the perspective of a luchadore. The VICE crew attended IMPACT Wrestling's 'Slammiversay XVI' PPV that took place in July and they spoke with Fenix who was in the opening match of the show. Fenix was asked about the meaning of Lucha Libre and as he answered he was not shy in stating that he wants to be like one of his favorites luchadores of all-time, former two-time World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio.
?Yeah, you know, Mysterio is one of my favorite luchadores and of course I wanna be like him." Fenix said. "So, of course the first thing I [took] from him is the mask. The first time I put on my mask, it's incredible bro - almost explosion in your chest and you feel [like a] superhero. That's how the people look at you, like a superhero. I remember when I went to the Lucha Libre shows in Mexico, it was like, incredible. ?It?s Octagon, wow. Oh it's Atlantis?" Fenix continued, ?It's a big thing now in my life. It's part of my life, it's work. It's a big passion for me, but when I take [off my mask] I?m back and I have problems and I need to pay rent? everything you know? And I think luchadores believe the hero - believe everything. Yeah, some people talk like [a] luchadore with you [and] it's like c?mon, like what? We are real people. We feel, we love, we cry.?
Fenix was then asked about the significance of his mask and what it means to represent the Lucha Libre culture. As it can be read in the quote above, Fenix reiterated that when he puts the mask on he is in a different realm but once he takes it off it is right back to reality.
?For lucahdores it's very important because the Aztec culture, the Mexican culture when the warriors, the real warriors cover his face to do a war, so when Lucha Libre started in Mexico people started to cover their face. So you design your special new mask and when you make this, you take a lot of pride in your mask, and I think when I put on my mask I always feel the extra energy." Fenix explained. "Like the real person I want to be but when I take [it] off it's like a dream. Like somebody closed the window and boom, back to reality."
One promotion that Fenix will consistently have the chance to show what he can do in the ring is in MLW. MLW founder Court Bauer recently announced that both Fenix and Pentagon have committed to MLW through 2019.
If you are going to use the quotes above, please credit 'VICE' with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.